LONDON — Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor hailed a “perfect night” at Stamford Bridge as her side erased a 2-0 deficit against Manchester City and sealed progress to a third-successive Champions League semifinal.

Bompastor’s side faced an uphill task in the second leg of the quarterfinal, after a Vivianne Miedema brace had condemned them to their first loss of the season in the first leg.

But they came flying out of the blocks on Wednesday night and were 3-2 up on aggregate before half-time through goals from Sandy Baltimore, Natalie Bjorn and Mayra Ramírez.

City struggled to contend with Chelsea’s attacking thrust, with the home side peppering Khiara Keating’s goal with 22 shots and hitting the woodwork thrice.

“I think sometimes in football you work really hard, you sometimes get good results, sometimes not. But I think tonight was a perfect night for us being able again to play at Stamford Bridge with our fans and being able to turn things around again,” Bompastor told a news conference post-match.

“I’m really proud of my players. It was a difficult challenge, but we believed it was possible and I think this belief was something really strong on our side and maybe made the difference.”

The comeback secured a semifinal showdown against holders Barcelona, who beat VfL Wolfsburg 10-2 on aggregate in their quarterfinal. The Liga F side have knocked Chelsea out of the competition at the same stage in each of the last three years, but Bompastor is hopeful of her side’s chances.

“Barcelona has a lot of experience, a lot of talent in the squad. I was watching their game before our game against Wolfsburg. And yeah, it’ll be a tough challenge. But in football again, everything is possible,” she said.

“So, I will bring all the confidence we need to go into those two games. But first of all, we want to enjoy, because it was not easy. We had a really great performance today. So I want to enjoy and have some time to reflect on the games in April against Barcelona.”

While Chelsea remain on track to win a historic quadruple, the loss on Wednesday ended City’s hopes of winning silverware this season. Despite being strung by injuries, City proved able competitors to Bompastor’s side across this run of four games in 12 days across three competitions.

It’s something boss Nick Cushing said he takes heart from.

“It’s been the ultimate test and it is the ultimate test. When you play the best team, the most consistent in-form team, it shows you where you’re at,” he said.

“But it’s also difficult for me to say where we’re at because we have so many key players missing, but that’s not an excuse. I’m proud of the group. We’ve shown that the togetherness and the fight and the spirit and the determination is there.

“We’ve caused Chelsea real problems in all four games. We’ve lost on moments. I think arguably the last 20 minutes of the league tie was probably the most one-sided part of the four games. But with so much stress on the group to still be in it and pushing it for me shows the character this group has and I’m proud of the group.”